Two years
ago this week Dwight Gayle scored a hat-trick and was man of the match
for Conference North side Bishop's Stortford in a 4-0 win which saw
Eastwood Town relegated.

That’s the sixth tier of English football.

At the start of last season he made his Football League debut for Dagenham & Redbridge in a 2-0 defeat at Cheltenham Town.

Back of the net: Dwight Gayle scored two goals as Crystal Palace fought back to draw with Liverpool

A
year ago he was leading the line in a Peterborough United side that was
relegated in the final minute of the final game of the Championship
season at, ironically, Crystal Palace.

On
Monday night he scored twice for Palace against Liverpool in that
stunning 3-3 draw. He had already scored at Anfield earlier in the
season and but for injuries this term, he would surely have added to
his tally of five.

As
a kid Gayle was with Arsenal but they rejected him on the basis that he
was too small. He reacted badly and football became just a kick-about
with his mates.

His talent was hard to ignore and he got a game with Stansted way down the pyramid.

Then
Dagenham boss John Still picked him up, loaned him out
to Bishop's Stortford, and then put him in the Daggers’ first team before
he got a move to the Championship.

What a rise to glory. You can only be impressed with his mentality, his ability and his determination.

But
it also makes me wonder how many others are out there. Extremely
talented footballers who didn’t react well to an ill-judged, premature
rejection, but with the right guidance and coaching could become true
Premier League talents and maybe even benefit the national team.

Leveller: Gayle fires home Palace's equaliser on a memorable night at Selhurst Park

Party time: Gayle celebrates scoring a double for Palace against Liverpool on Monday night

Look
at Kevin Phillips, one of my favourite players, who retired at the
weekend: rejected by Southampton as a teenager, played as a defender in
non-league football at Baldock Town before an injury crisis led to him
playing up front. He never looked back and went on to become a Golden
Boot winner, one of the few to score 30 goals in a Premier League
season, and played for England.

Still
not convinced? Stuart Pearce was rejected after a trial at QPR, and
then went non-League with Wealdstone. He ended up playing for England in
a World Cup and European Championship semi-final. I will be privileged
to be working with him at the World Cup for talkSPORT this summer.

There
are talented players out there in the lower leagues and non-League: I
just wish more of our top flight coaches would get off their backsides
and go and watch them.

All
of us who played school football, Sunday football - even football miles
down the pyramid - will admire what Gayle has achieved.

And the best thing about it is that he is a wonderfully humble guy as well.

There
are more out there – I would love to see Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho,
Brendan Rodgers or Manuel Pellegrini go and watch a player in the
Conference, pluck him out, polish him up and turn him into an
international. It’s been done before. Surely that’s a massive part of
what coaching is all about?

Rise and rise: Gayle had spells at Peterborough and Dagenham & Redbridge before joining Palace